On January 2, the 14th year of Jian'an, the second day of the Lunar New Year, Cao Cao and Liu Bei had a head-on decisive battle at Pingting in the south of Wancheng.

The strength of the two sides is about the same, and the war should have been deadlocked.

However, the sudden attack of the Jiangxia naval army disrupted all the steps of Cao Cao, so that the Cao army was defeated.

Of the more than 50,000 horses, less than one-third fled back, and only more than 10,000 barely made it back.

And at least more than half of them disappeared or escaped, Cao Cao had less than 5,000 people around him, and the rest were almost 30,000 killed or surrendered.

In addition, there were many generals who died in battle, in addition to the general Li Tong who died in battle, there were also cavalry generals Wen Yan, the protector Feng Kai was killed, and the rest of the generals and middle and lower-level officers were countless, and Cao Cao suffered heavy losses in this battle.

It is worth mentioning that Wen Yan, a cavalry general who died in battle, had a son named Wen Qin, and Wen Qin had a son named Wen Li, also known as Wen Yang.

Of course.

Now Wen Qin himself is just a child, and when Wen Yang is born, it will be thirty years later.

For Liu Bei, in the era of cold weapons, Cao Cao was left with only 5,000 people left in the first battle, which was undoubtedly a big victory.

Because of the need for hand-to-hand combat, in the era of cold weapons, there were actually very few people who actually died in battlefield confrontations, and the few wars of total annihilation were often large-scale surrenders.

For example, in the Battle of Changping, Bai Qi killed all the 400,000 Zhao troops who surrendered. In the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao also killed all the 80,000 Yuan troops who surrendered.

Therefore, if the enemy does not surrender, but chooses to throw away his armor and flee with his head bored, it is basically impossible to fight a war of annihilation.

After all, people have lost everything, don't be burdened, don't want weapons and equipment, just care about running for your life, you wear armor, you still have weapons in your hands, and you have to hang people's heads and ears to pick up combat achievements, so naturally you can't catch up with others.

In this case, Liu Bei also captured more than 20,000 people and killed more than 10,000 people, including 5,000 cavalry of Cao's army, so you can know what a hard-won victory this battle was in the case of non-large-scale surrender.

Liu Beijun won a complete victory and pursued Cao Cao all the way to Ye County.

Because too many people were missing or scattered, there were not many people Cao Cao ran to Yexian's side, and these 5,000 people were almost exhausted and paralyzed, and they had no combat effectiveness, so it was obviously impossible to defend Yexian.

Fortunately, Cao Cao arranged for Zhao Yan to transport grain and grass in the rear, and Yexian probably had more than 5,000 soldiers and more than 20,000 auxiliary soldiers to transport grain and grass.

When Zhao Yan learned of the situation, he immediately covered Cao Cao's retreat, and he was stationed in Ye County, relying on these 5,000 soldiers and 20,000 auxiliaries to barely block Liu Bei's army, which was attacking Yecheng like a tide.

A few days later, some of the scattered Cao soldiers fled back to Yingchuan in Runan from other places, and together with the defeated soldiers around Cao Cao, more than 10,000 people were assembled.

Cao Cao then ordered Cao Hong to lead these assembled defeated soldiers to stay in Kunyang, and at the same time urgently dispatched Zang Ba's troops to Runan, and sent people to Jizhou to transfer a part of his troops south to prevent Liu Bei from taking the opportunity to go north, while he was busy returning to Chendu.

Because of this defeat, Chen Du will inevitably be turbulent, Cao Cao is already in a hurry, and the heroes of various families are likely to take the opportunity to make trouble, so he must go back to deal with internal problems.

So Nanyang became Zhao Yan's 5,000 soldiers plus 20,000 auxiliary soldiers, and Cao Hong's about 10,000 remnants, each guarding Ye County and Kunyang.

Liu Bei besieged Yexian and Kunyang for half a month, and was repeatedly defeated.

Although he had an army of seventy or eighty thousand, the attack was relatively hasty, and he did not prepare large siege equipment.

And Yecheng and Kunyang happened to be the places where Cao's army stocked up on grain, grass, ordnance, and materials, and the arrows and food were extremely sufficient.

Therefore, in late January, Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen both suggested that Liu Bei should drive Cao Cao out of Nanyang, and that he should deal with the south first, defeat Liu Cong, recover the entire Jingzhou, and have a foundation of his own before considering the Northern Expedition.

The main reason is that Yizhou, Jingzhou, and Yangzhou are all in turmoil now. There are not many soldiers and horses of all the princes in the south, they are all in the stage of forty or fifty thousand, and the internal fighting and concussions are not endless, and the Northern Expedition is not the time.

Although Liu Bei may already be the largest prince in the south, and it seems that he has seventy or eighty thousand people under his hands, in fact this is not the case.

These 780,000 people have the Wenpin Army, the Ganning Army, the Shen Chen Army, and the Jiangxia Naval Division, all of which come from a variety of sources, and are not subordinate to each other internally, plus the people's hearts are not aligned, and there are also problems with the allocation of grain, grass, ordnance, materials, etc., if you go on an immediate northern expedition, acting in haste is tantamount to sending them to death.

Moreover, a large-scale war like this requires preparation in advance, and even if it is well prepared, it is not necessarily possible to win.

Like the later Fu Jian, he almost unified the north, so he decided to go south to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and prepared for more than a year, but the battle of Weishui was defeated, and the former Qin fell apart in an instant.

Even the huge Qianqin couldn't withstand a big defeat, not to mention that Liu Bei didn't have a good family background like Fu Jian.

So far, he doesn't even have a fixed territory, and I'm afraid that he has just hit the area of Runan and Yingchuan, and the rear and the inside of the soldiers and horses have collapsed.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen's suggestions were obviously right, and many things should not be rushed.

Liu Bei was still very rational without death, and seeing that Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen were like this, he followed their advice and planned to withdraw his troops back to Wancheng, and at the same time actively prepared grain and grass, and prepared to go south to besiege Xiangyang.

But at the beginning of February, before Liu Bei's army could withdraw from outside Yexian to Wancheng, Liu Cong surrendered.

He had to fall.

Liu Cong was originally a puppet of Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, and he had no opinions, so he was at their mercy.

After Liu Biao's death, because of their strong strength, Cai Mao and Kuai Yue had the idea of becoming powerful ministers, so with the help of Mrs. Cai, Liu Cong was appointed emperor.

But Cai Mao was defeated, and the foreign aid Cao Army and Jiangdong Army were also defeated, and at this moment Xiangyang was already isolated, and if it continued to fight, I am afraid that when the city is broken, it will be the death of Liu Cong and Kuai Yue.

Therefore, after judging the situation, the two finally chose to surrender.

They surrendered to Liu Qi.

The remaining 50,000 troops in Xiangyang also surrendered.

After all, Liu Cong and Kuai Yue didn't know if Liu Bei would kill him, but Liu Qi had to take care of his family affection and was benevolent by nature, so he shouldn't want their lives.

So it's a pretty wise choice.

So Liu Qi, accompanied by Guan Yu, Xu Shu and others, rode into Xiangyang alone, just like his father many years ago.

Liu Bei was still preparing to go south outside Yexian at that time, and when he learned the news, he left Mi Zhu, Li Yan, Han Ran, Yin Ji and others to appease the local people in Wancheng and the surrounding counties.

He also asked Wen Ping to continue to besiege Yexian, Gan Ning and Zhang Fei cooperated to surround Kunyang, to meet the people who were relocated by Cao Cao, and he led the rest of the troops and horses south.

On the sixth day of the second month, outside the city of Xiangyang.

Due to the blockage of the water, the army is currently stationed in Fancheng, and Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Shen Chen and others arrived in Xiangyang by boat.

In the early morning mist, a big ship at Xiangyang Ferry Wharf sailed slowly, broke through the mist, rode the wind and waves, and approached the edge of the wharf.

The boat slowly stopped, and Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Shen Chen, Su Fei, Huang Zhong and others disembarked in turn.

This time when he came back, in order to avoid gossip, Liu Bei's headquarters of 20,000 soldiers and horses were led by Zhang Fei to besiege Cao Hong in Kunyang and Gan Ning, and to take the people back, and there were only 30,000 Jiangxia sailors and 10,000 Huang Zhongbu around him.

There are also many people waiting on the dock, Liu Qi, Liu Qi, Liu Xian, Deng Hong, Wen Ying, Huang Jie, Wang Wei and other more than ten people, as well as Guan Yu, Zhao Yuntai, Shi Ci, Xu Shu, etc. are also waiting here.

Liu Qi's face was a little pale and coughed slightly. But when he saw Liu Bei walking down from the boat, he still showed joy, stepped forward and said, "Brother Xuande." ”

"Brother Burry."

Liu Bei hurriedly walked to the steps and stretched out his hand to hold Liu Qi's hand, seeing that his hand was a little cold, he said distressedly: "It's still cold now, why don't you wait in the mansion?" ”

"But I think my brother is a little urgent."

Liu Qi smiled, took Liu Bei's hand and said, "Come, brother, follow me into the city." ”

Liu Biao was born in 142 A.D., Liu Bei was born in 161 A.D., and the difference between the two sides is nearly 20 years, so as Liu Biao's eldest son, Liu Qi's age is actually two years younger than Liu Bei, and now he is forty-five years old.

When Liu Bei came to Nanyang, he was protected by Liu Biao, and because the two were about the same age, their personalities and interests were similar, they gradually became friends, and they have always been brothers.

At this moment, the two of them were very happy to meet again, Liu Qi was very enthusiastic, after all, he was able to recapture Jingzhou, almost all of which relied on Liu Bei's help.

After the greetings, the group returned to Xiangyang City.

When Liu Cong occupied Xiangyang before, Xiangyang was heavily guarded and was in the control stage, which seriously hindered the normal life of the people.

Now the whole Jingzhou has restored peace, and the city and outside the city have begun to have the breath of life, people come and go, it is the time of spring ploughing, the wheat fields outside the city are lush, and hundreds of people shuttle through the fields.

Since Liu Biao's death at the beginning of last year, Jingzhou has obviously been in turmoil for a year, and now there is finally a rare peace.

The four counties of Jingnan are currently guarded by Liu Pan, and the four counties of Jingbei, Nanyang County, Zhangling County, Nanjun and Jiangxia County have now been recovered, and the invading Jiangdong army has also been repulsed, and the people have also lived and worked in peace and contentment.

But there are also problems that arise, such as reassuring the population, redistributing benefits, appointing local officials, and other internal affairs.

It's just that for now, these things will definitely not be handled by Liu Bei, because nominally he is not the lord of Jingzhou.

In this battle, Liu Bei's slogan was Cai Mao, Kuai Yue was a minister like Zhao Gao and Li Si, and Liu Biao's Jingzhou should have been inherited by his eldest son Liu Qi, Liu Qi was to help Su, and Liu Bei should help him.

So under normal circumstances, Liu Bei helped Liu Qi recapture Jingzhou, and after Liu Qi expressed his gratitude, Liu Bei should also send troops to Bashu to attack Zhang Lu in the name of supporting Liu Zhang.

However, when he arrived at the former Liu Biao Palace in Xiangyang, Liu Qi said something unexpected.

At that time, in the mansion, everyone sat in order.

Liu Qi is in the first place.

The first one under his right hand is Liu Bei, and then Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Zhao Yun, Tai Shici and others.

The first one below the left hand is Shen Chen.

Because Shen Chen is actually subordinate to Liu Qi, not Liu Bei, if Huang Zu is not there, as the number one contributor to the current pacification of Jingzhou, he will definitely sit in the first place.

The rest of the former Jingzhou Prefecture Governors such as Liu Qian, Liu Xian, Deng Hong, Wen Ying, Huang Jie, and Wang Wei sat behind Shen Chen and arranged them in order.

In this way, Liu Qi's forces are on his left hand, and Liu Bei's forces are on his right.

In fact, Liu Qi's core henchmen are still Huang Zu, Huang Jie, Su Fei and a number of generals of the Jiangxia Navy, such as Liu Qi, Liu Xian, Deng Hong, Wen Ying, Wang Wei, etc., all of whom originally worked with Liu Cong.

Including Deng Hong, he stayed in the mansion honestly every day.

After all, his wife is Cai, and it is normal to verbally support Mrs. Cai and Liu Cong.

However, the state capital needs someone to settle down, and if it is all abandoned, how will the affairs of the state capital run and who will take care of it?

Therefore, after Liu Qi entered Xiangyang, he only imprisoned Liu Cong and Kuai Yue Zhang Yun, and the rest were not liquidated.

At this moment, Liu Qi sat on the top.

Liu Bei originally planned to resign from Liu Qi according to the original plan, hoping that Liu Qi could stabilize Jingzhou, provide him with food and grass supplies, and allow him to send troops to Bashu.

Unexpectedly, after Liu Qi sat down, the first thing he said to Liu Bei was to say seriously: "Today, the Han Dynasty is late, the sea is capsized, and the meritorious deeds are today." The state is rich, with a household registration of one million, and he wants to bend his brother to take care of the affairs of the state. ”

Liu Bei was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "Brother Xian, why is this?" Although Jingsheng Gong claims to be the emperor in vain, Ranbo Rui's virtuous brother is sensible and benevolent, and he should govern Jingzhou, and I will go on a northern expedition with Cao Cao and support the Han family, how can I let the state give me? ”

"Yes, the eldest son was supposed to inherit Jingzhou, but now that he has finally taken it back, how can he give it up?"

"Although General Zuo is famous all over the world, and he has made a lot of contributions to the recovery of Jingzhou, if it is reasonable, it should be inherited by the eldest son."

"yes, that's amazing."

Many state capitals were also very surprised, and they didn't understand what was going on with Liu Qi, so they spoke out one after another.

Someone has already begun to think.

Could it be that Liu Qi was afraid that Liu Bei would seize Jingzhou by force?

So why don't you strike first, predict in advance, and use moral kidnapping to force Liu Bei not to dare to do it?

That's impossible.

Let's not talk about whether Liu Bei wants his reputation as a kind person, let's just say that his strength is not allowed.

Almost all of Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and others' 100,000 troops surrendered, plus Wen Ping, Liu Pan and Huang Zu's men.

Liu Qi currently has an army of 150,000 or 60,000, and Shen Chen, the military god of Jingzhou, is in charge, does Liu Bei really have that strength?

Therefore, everyone didn't understand what Liu Qi meant for a while.

Only Shen Chen thought about it, and seemed to think of something, so he said in a deep voice: "The eldest son behaves like this, is there any trouble? ”

Liu Qi glanced at Shen Chen gratefully, nodded, looked around at the people below and said, "Yes, before you object, please listen to my heartfelt words." ”

"Brother Xian."

Liu Bei looked puzzled.

Liu Qi waved his hand, looked around, looked at the people in the audience, and said slowly: "Since Emperor Huan Emperor Ling, the Han family has weakened, the country has declined, Cao Cao has held power, and the Son of Heaven has been coerced to order the princes. Therefore, if you want to revitalize the country and restore the foundation of the Liu family, you must have a virtuous person, lead the fertile land, win the hearts of the people in all directions, lead thousands of troops and horses, crusade against thieves from all directions, welcome the Son of Heaven, and be a king. ”

After finishing speaking, he looked at Liu Bei and said, "And this virtuous person is my brother Liu Xuande!" ”